Gigstarter

A social network for going out with friends

2013

Initial situation — Within the frame of a collaboration with Nokia HERE, we have been invited to think of how we could improve micro-coordination within small groups of people by creating new services. There was also a focus on the Windows Mobile platform as it used to be Nokia smartphones' OS.

Approach — After an input phase including an introduction into the user research methods used at Nokia, we first looked for opportunities by using user journeys, generating ideas and narratives. Later on, we developed a service and designed a dedicated app.

Result — We created a service inspired by the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter that would enable small groups of people to commit and buy tickets together without one single person being forced to take over the financial responsibility for the whole group. Depending on the intention of the initiator(s) and the type of event envisioned, the outing may be opened to further people following different invitation schemes.

More information

Social visibility

Inviting people to an outing is sometimes a very delicate task that requires a high level of social intelligence. Depending on the context, one may want to let the invitation open for further people while consciously excluding a certain category of acquaintances.

For example, by launching an invitation to the next Star Trek fan convention, you may want to enable fellow fans to extend the invitation to their own friends. However you may not want to disclose your hobby in the office. We tried to tackle this aspect by creating different social visibility settings.

Use scenario

Start screen

The user becomes an overview of the current outings.

Setting up an event

The user is organizing an outing to the next KISS concert.

Receiving an invitation

One of the user's friend is reviewing and finally accepting an invitation.

It's gonna happen!

The outing is going to take place as enough of the user's friends have pledged to come. As expected, the tickets are automatically purchased.